Unrest Escalated in Egypt

CAIRO,(ST)_ Five people were killed and other 568 wounded in bloody confrontations  between Egyptian demonstrators  and the security forces in Port Said on Tuesday, while in Cairo police took the streets to protest,   in clashes between police and hundreds of protesters in a third day of unrest.

News reports in Cairo said that the Egyptian security forces battled stone-throwing youths in the Suez Canal city of Port Said  and shot into the air and fired teargas at the protesters gathered in front of a local government building in the city.

The Egyptian ministry of health announced that 159 persons were injured  in clashes between  demonstrators and the security forces in Port Said and Cairo.

Spokesman for the ministry Yahya Mousa detailed  that 154 persons were injured in Port said and admitted to the city ‘s hospital  and other five in Cairo admitted at the old Qasr al-Eini hospital.

Egypt has been in political turmoil   demanding  downing  the Muslim brothers regime of  Mohamed Mursi,  who has struggled to restore security since his election in June, 2012 .

However, Joblessness worsened by an economic crisis, anger at police brutality and fuel price rises have helped fuel the unrest.

Port Said has seen waves of violent demonstrations since January over the detention of dozens of people in connection with a soccer riot last year in which more than 70 died.

At least six people have been killed in the latest wave of protests in the Mediterranean city, including three policemen. Hundreds more have been wounded, scores of them from gunshot wounds and live bullets, according to medical officials.

News reports  said that about 60 people died during street protests across Egypt between January 25, the anniversary of the 2011 “uprising” , to February 4. The  demonstrators were calling for Mursi’s resignation, accusing him and his Muslim Brotherhood of trying to monopolize power.

In a sign of the broader discontent afflicting the country, dozens of police officers blocked a major road in Cairo to protest about the killing of a colleague by an unknown attacker while he was investigating a bank robbery earlier on Tuesday, the Egyptian state news agency said.

In another development, several Egyptian opposition parties including the national salvation front announced boycott of the forthcoming parliamentary election in Egypt due in April this year.

T. Fateh